Amedisys Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) has reportedly agreed to divest upwards of 100 home health and hospice locations to an undisclosed private equity buyer as the company addresses regulators’ antitrust concerns in its pending acquisition by the UnitedHealth Group’s (UNH) health care services arm Optum.
The news came in a recent social media post from The Capitol Forum. Selling off some of Amedisys’ locations in overlapping markets within Optum’s service region may help push the transaction forward amid mounting regulatory concerns. Amedisys and Optum have not confirmed the report.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is mulling a possible lawsuit to block the acquisition, citing potential antitrust issues related to the deal. The concerns center around the ability for other providers to compete if Optum and Amedisy combine their geographic footprints.
“The DOJ is said to be having discussions with the companies, while also considering suing to block the combination,” The Capitol Forum associates wrote. “The DOJ is expected to make a decision soon.”
The divestiture comes alongside ongoing efforts by UnitedHealth to sell off 87 of Optum’s locations, The Capitol Forum previously reported earlier this year.
Optum Health currently serves more than 4.1 million patients in value-based care arrangements across all of its clinical business lines.
UnitedHealth Group, via Optum, has made massive investments in home health and hospice in recent years. In June 2023, the company penned an agreement to acquire Amedisys in an all-cash transaction of $101 per share, or about $3.3 billion. This followed its $5.4 billion acquisition of LHC Group, which closed in February of that year.
Last August, the DOJ began investigating potential antitrust concerns related to the Amedisys-Optum deal. Federal regulators are taking an even closer look as well, the Wall Street Journal reported in February. To date, neither Amedisys nor Optum have been accused of any wrongdoing.
The DOJ performed a similar investigation — and filed a lawsuit — when Optum acquired the health care technology company Change Healthcare last year. A federal court eventually allowed that deal to proceed.
The DOJ’s ongoing investigation of the Amedisys-Optum transaction has garnered concern among investors. Amedisys saw stock values dip by 0.6% following reports of a potential lawsuit.
Companies featured in this article:
